Group Black names Cavel Khan as its new CCO

Group Black announced that Cavel Khan, the former chief revenue officer of Tumblr, has joined the Black-owned media collective as its chief commercial officer. 

Group Black was founded in June 2021 by CEO Travis Montaque, Chief Strategy Officer Bonin Bough and Chairman Richelieu Dennis, to diversify the media landscape and increase investment in Black-owned businesses. Khan will lead the organization's overall commerce business strategy, commerce marketing and monetization efforts. 

“We are honored that Cavel has joined our organization to support the mission of investing in the growth of Black-owned media,” Bough said in a press release. “His award-winning experience in strategy and growth, in addition to his passion for spearheading marketing strategies and partnership building will help lead Group Black in our efforts to change the face of media ownership and investment.”

Khan joins Group Black after working two years at Tumblr. He also held roles at Vice Media, Twitter and Microsoft. In 2020, Khan was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Achievement. He has also served as the co-chair of the advisory board of AdColor, a nonprofit organization focused on diversity in advertising.    

Brands have been called upon to increase their commitments to diverse-owned media over the past two years. This includes pledges by agencies such as WPP's GroupM, which invested $75 million in Group Black when it launched and has pledged 2% of its media dollars would go to Black-owned organizations starting this year. In March, Group Black received a nine-figure investment from Proctor & Gamble that would be channeled towards Black media.

But there's still a ways to go in creating parity, with several executives running Black-owned media companies noting that the initial fervor of commitments made in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in 2020 have since waned. 

“I’m excited to join Group Black at such a pivotal time to help drive real economic transformation,” Khan said in a press release. “The future of e-commerce, creator economy and mobile shopping should be able to provide equal access to everyone, especially Black people who have been left behind from economic shifts. Since Black people have collectively contributed trillions towards that economy, we must play our part to make sure they are equally represented and supported.”